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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Being a college student and working makes it difficult to get to my CrossFit box every day to do a workout but I try to get in there at least 4 days a week. The days that I can't make it to any classes I still try to accomplish something at home. While I can't mimic every WOD that they do at the box at home due to a lack of equipment, I can still make up some of my own to get my blood flowing.

I have come up with a few workouts that the only equipment you need is yourself and they are sure to get your blood flowing! These are perfect for the days you can't make it to the gym or are traveling on the road. (Be sure to do some type of warm-up before doing a workout to reduce the risk of injury!)

15 Minute Tabata

Each exercise is 6 rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest. Take a one minute rest between exercises.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

If you didn't win but still want to try these amazing non-slip headbands out, remember that there is FREE shipping on all Halloween headbands until September 30th. Also, there are a few other bloggers who will be hosting reviews and giveaways shortly. Follow my blog and Rockin' Ribbons on Twitter and Facebook to find out when they are!

After tackling a parade with 8 kids and taking them all to a community park event all day, we decided to catch the afternoon 4:00 WOD held every Saturday at our local box. The WOD was an AMRAP of deadlifts and handstand pushups! Are we crazy or what? And after the workout we still had enough energy to take the kids out to dinner...

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Wednesday night one of the small country towns near our city had their annual Free Fall Fair. My mom and step-dad asked Jon and I if we wanted to drive up from school and go to it with them. Naturally we said yes as country music is our favorite. And who passes up a free concert?

A smaller band performed first and then Cole Swindell performed. He was a songwriter before he became a singer so he sang a lot of songs that he wrote for other big name artists. It was neat to hear him sing the songs he wrote for others and the songs he wrote for himself.

Being a free concert in a small town you couldn't expect too much from it. We sat on some old wooden bleachers surrounded by a lot of locals. There were a few verbal fights going on between some crazies and we couldn't see much due to all of the people who felt it was appropriate to stand right in front of us! But overall, it was definitely a fun time with some of my favorite people!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Things have been pretty hectic around here. I am watching 4 kid this week (along with a few other helpers) while their parents are on vacation in Mexico! The past two days I had the evenings off so I was able to get some important things accomplished. One of those important things being baking.I found a Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bar recipe online but I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand so I had to tweak it a bit. I was pretty nervous as tweaking baking recipes is very different from tweaking cooking recipes but it turned out pretty good!

I probably should have taken a picture of the individual piece I ate to show you how pretty the layers were but I ate a few pieces too many and it's gone now... The crust was definitely my favorite part! The pumpkin pie filling wasn't very thick and the texture reminded me of cool whip. If I make this again I will try and make the filling a bit thicker so it's more like pumpkin pie.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F2. Grease an 8x8 pan3. Combine crust ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well by hand4. Tightly press the crust dough into the bottom of the pan5. Bake the crust 15-20 minutes. Then let cool (put in the fridge to help quicken the process)6. In a medium saucepan, whisk all of the pie filling ingredients together7. Cook the pie filling over medium heat. When the mixture starts to bubble, cook for 2 more minutes.8. Remove the pie filling from heat and pour over the cooled pie crust.9. Sprinkle a dash of cinnamon over the top of the pie filling.10. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving. Keep extras refrigerated.

Baker's Note

Your pumpkin pie bars will come out much better if you have a really fluffy kitten laying at your feet while you are baking!

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, make sure you do so! It ends Sunday 9/28 at midnight!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

I feel like it was just yesterday that it was the first day of summer. How it is already fall? I'm not upset though. I absolutely love fall. Sweaters, boots, coffee, bonfires, football games, pumpkin desserts topped with lots of whip cream, the colors changing, leaves crunching on the ground... the list goes on and on.

The way I'm celebrating the first day of fall is by lighting a pumpkin cupcake candle, giving myself a fresh manicure, and by eating a handful of pumpkin spice M&Ms. Oh, and I'm also offering a giveaway to all of you!

(Side note: There is also a giveaway going on on Twitter currently - that one is through Rockin' Ribbons!)

Giveaway

One lucky reader will win a Rockin' Ribbons headband of their choice! All you have to do is check out all of the headbands available by clicking here and then comment below with your favorite one! You can earn extra entries too!

The giveaway closes Sunday, September 28th at midnight and a winner will be announced on Monday!

Directions:
1. Dump all of the canned ingredients, onion, and mushrooms in the crock-pot and mix. Place the chicken breasts on top of everything.
2. Cook on high for 4 hours.
3. Before serving take the chicken breasts out and shred them with a fork. Place them back in the crockpot and mix them with everything.
4. Serve on warmed tortillas. This is also delicious without the tortilla.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Ever have one of those days where you have no motivation to work out, you're running late, and you forgot your gym shoes? No? Well that was me today.

It's okay though, I just worked out in my socks (which I am now regretting - so many blisters!)

The WOD today was a partner workout which was my favorite and consisted entirely of rowing. I loved this workout and I hated it at the same time.

I loved it because my partner was one of my best friends. We've been really good friends, neighbors, and roommates throughout our college years. I actually introduced her to CrossFit a few months ago so I always love when we get a chance to workout together!

I hated the workout because the straps you put your shoes into when you row were rubbing against the heels of my feet. Kind of like when you wear high heels or new shoes for too long. Ouch.

Curious as to what the title of this blog post is about? Each month my CrossFit box teams up with an organization called Sweat Angels. For every Facebook check-in the box receives during that month, money is donated to the charity of choice for that month. This month all the money raised goes to help the animals! In the past few months Sweat Angels has donated food to feed veterans and bricks to build schools in Haiti. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Monday, September 15, 2014

I began the Whole30 challenge today, which means 100% Paleo, 100% of the time, for 30 days.
I've done this challenge before but then I fell off the face of the blogging world and never finished blogging about it! Sorry to leave you all hanging like that.

For dinner tonight, I really wanted tacos. Well, taco shells aren't paleo so I had to compromise and eat nachos instead! For these nachos I didn't use tortilla chips, instead I used sweet potato chips.

These were amazing. Seriously, I could eat this version of nachos forever and be satisfied.

Directions:

For the sweet potato chips:
Cut one sweet potato into thin slices, approx 1/4" thick. Soak the chips in a bowl of water for 10 minutes (this helps to remove excess starch and will help your chips crisp up.) Dry off the chips with paper towels. Toss in olive oil and taco seasoning. Put on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

Once your chips are done in the oven, top with your meat of choice that has been seasoned with taco seasoning and lots of veggies, salsa, hot sauce, and guac!

I've been gone awhile. I can't believe my last post was almost 6 months ago!

I plan on blogging much more often, especially because I have a lot more free time now than I used to. A little bit about what I've been up to...

I'm still doing CrossFit and love it. I've been doing it for almost a year now! I haven't been running much on my own and normally only run if it is part of the workout that day.

I'm eating a mostly Paleo diet and have found that it works wonders for me. I did the Whole30 challenge a few months ago and the results were amazing. I will definitely be posting my eats and recipes on here!

I'm a nanny now (I have been for 6 months), which I absolutely love. The baby girl is such a sweetheart and is always happy, which makes my job much easier.

I graduate from college in 3 months! I am so ready to be done - but not for long. I will begin graduate school next summer.

I'm bringing my headband business, Rockin' Ribbons, back to life! I can't wait until it's back in full swing. More details to come and links will be up on the blog soon.

I am now a mom to two little fur babies. I have two kittens, Hazel and George, and I love them to death. If you want to keep up with their cuteness you can follow them on Instagram! Yes, my cats have their own Instagram.. Don't judge me!

Well, that about sums it all up. CrossFit, nannying, school, headbands, and kittens.